Micellaneous

Lily looked so beautiful, backlit, using the fireplace as a desk for doing her 'writing' until I pointed the camera at her and got this gormless look :-)
Ali has been manufacturing large quantities of artworks this holidays
We had custard with tamarillos (tree tomatoes) for desert tonight. It's been a year since the girls last tried them, so I thought they might like them but I'm the only one who ate any. Lily has pronounced that they are "Yuckle!". It's lucky that they look so pretty hanging in the tree, but how on earth will I be able to eat a whole tree's worth on my own? Maybe the neighbours will take some?
Lily has perfected the milo moustache

We spent some time at the beach with Buddy on whatever day it was - school holidays make me lose track of the days. The weather has been just beautiful lately.
Thanks for the lovely bunnies and painted eggs Grandma. I can see we have a new tradition on our hands.

Ali's PJ Party

Ali's pajama party for her birthday was on Wednesday night. Her friends Asher and Karli came for the evening. We all made our own pizzas on an assembly line which the kids enjoyed. They watched movies and gobbled popcorn til late. I was surprised when they paused the movie to build a giant construction of blocks across the living room floor! No need to organise games.
Everyone had their fingernails painted and we did trendy hair styles in the morning. Phil left early in the morning to catch a flight to see his Mum in Goulburn so he missed out on the cool hair.
We all send our love Grandma xxooxx

MIA

What have we all been up to? The last few days we've been staying in Warkworth because Phil is working down that way. We did lots of walking to the park, feeding ducks, playing at the playground and bubble baths. On Saturday we popped in to the Farmers market at Matakana which was a bit of a culture shock. It was chock full of well dressed Aucklanders sipping double decaf soy lattes and queuing for very expensive olive oil to drizzle on their organic rocket and buffalo milk mozzarella salad. We are a bit more used to the one in Whangarei where everyone just goes to buy their veges and then goes home. It was just as well we arrived early, when we left there was a 5 km stationary line of cars waiting to get in and fight for a carpark! Next we got lost and then found the donkey park where there was a lovely market with actual veges and fruit for sale, another playground, and the donkeys. Yesterday we went to a school fair at Leigh where we gorged on icecream and candy floss between showers. Ali's lost a second tooth which reminds me I must have a word to the tooth fairy. It took so long to fall out that the one replacing it has already grown in to mostly fill the gap :-)

Today we are home unpacking, gardening and generally puttering around. We planted some swan plants for the Monarch butterflies to take inside. There are five little caterpillars about 5mm long on the plants. I'll take another picture in a week or two. I included this picture of Ali's drawing especially for you Aunty Sarah.Last week we painted eggs ("igs" is what we call them in NZ). About half of them have already been broken. I might feed the chooks a bit more concrete before next Easter to make them stronger.

Lily liked the flowers we nicked from Oma Ali's garden when she wasn't home. She says they smell like honey

Ali's 6th birthday

Sorry the blog is a bit slow, we've all been here there and everywhere for a wee while. Thanks to Oma Ali for the last post. You Grandparents are really getting the hang of this interweb thingi.

Yesterday was Ali's birthday. We didn't have a party yet,a pajama party was planned and has been rescheduled for the school holidays. However we did get Guinea Pigs (after calling around every pet shop in Auckland!) Ali has called hers "Cutie" and Lily named hers "Lulla". They are gorgeous, just 6 weeks old, and quite tame. The girls have been spending lots of time holding and stroking them.CutieLulla
Thank you so much to everyone who sent cards and gifts. Ali was so excited to receive so much mail and so many presents.

Lunch at Warkworth

Last week, several members of Karen's family got together for lunch at Warkworth. Aunty Taya was visiting from Melbourne and she brought Opa Theo and Oma Mary up for the drive. These are some of the photos.

Ali's school camp

Ali had a great time at camp. We spent time learning about the mangroves, dune systems and shoreline of Mangawhai. After all that was done we had an awesome time learning golf, kayaking, riding the flying fox, speeding down the water slide, and having rides behind the quad bike. On Thursday night there was a newspaper fashion parade, then on Friday it was all over and Ali was exhausted.

Sunny Sunday afternoon

What a glorious weekend! Saturday morning we popped into the local markets on our way to surf-lifesaving and picked up a gorgeous pink hydrangea to plant next to the playhouse. Ali had a great time at lifesaving then we came home and got ourselves sorted for a BBQ at Todd's house overlooking the sea at Langs Beach. We walked down to Ding Bay where Ali and I had a swim in the big waves, we collected some mussels for the BBQ (yuk! but everyone else liked them) then poked around the rock pools for a bit. We got home just in time for a bright orange Sydney bushfire type sunset and then all of a sudden it was dark and bedtime for the girls.

We just puttered around at home today. I just checked my to-do list and I didn't even manage one thing to cross off so it must have been a good day. The girls did help me plant some lettuces and silverbeet. They also helped tidy up the house and Ali even vacuumed the whole lot.

I spoke to Phil today, it sounds like he had a very pleasant day getting lost in and around Christchurch, meandering around the city centre, the Avon river, Cathedral Square and the Cathedral of course. With luck he has taken some photos to post when he gets back.

Their swing was taken down to be replaced for safety reasons but I haven't got to Bunnings for a new one yet so I moved the monkey bars to where the swing usually hangs. While I wasn't watching the girls tied a skipping rope to it so they can both swing on it at the same time. They have been playing this game a lot today and I took these photos this afternoon. It looks terribly dangerous but they aren't very far off the ground and they can't swing very high with it like this so I've got the arnica ready for any bruises and I've just been watching carefully to make sure they don't hurt one another.